“SCRIBBLING FOR DUMMIES”



MOXIE DADA announces Connie Cantor’s second solo exhibition, “SCRIBBLING FOR DUMMIES”, JUNE 6 – 20, 2009. Connie has been exploring with lines and unconscious marks to produce a dialogue of which cannot be heard. Her new series challenges us to use our own intuition by offering an interactive “scribbling” – making our own marks and creating our own dialogues. These marks come from an inner dialogue and expression… uncovering patterns and conversations within our selves.




FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC





Artist Statement

I am interested in the intuitive mark as language: a somatic alphabet of physical expression. I am pulled to the inherent fertility of the impulsive, effortless line as it breeds and grows from within. The work is instinctive and playful: what I call “scribbling for dummies.”  I begin with an energy behind a stroke of the brush or pen—whether vigorous or methodical—and follow its lead allowing unexpected patterns and forms to emerge. A dialogue takes shape between the body of the artist and the body of the artwork, drawn from a visceral dialect of call and response. There is an intelligence here, that cannot be accessed through speech or hearing.  The intelligence is in the movement stripped of plan. The deeper the surrender of outcome, the more vital the conversation.



Bio:

Connie Cantor is an artist and teacher of intuitive expression. Her current work explores the peculiar pleasures of playful scribbles and random, effortless forms in what she calls “another way of speaking.” She has taught Experimental Drawing and classes on creative recovery at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and Touchstone Center for Crafts in Farmington, PA, and holds workshops in her Lawrenceville studio in creative risk-taking. Ms. Cantor is a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh where she recently exhibited an award-winning work, "Disturbance as a Second Language" at the Andy Warhol Museum. Her work is shown and sold in numerous galleries in the Pittsburgh area including Moxie Dada, FE gallery, Gallerie Chiz, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Fein Gallery, Digging Pitt, Studio G and The Brew House Space 101.



We invite you for a free & open to the public reception on Saturday, June 6, 2009 from 6-9 PM. The exhibit runs through June 20.





moxie DaDA

1416 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA 15212

Click here for directions

www.moxiedada.com

www.myspace.com/moxiedada

www.moxboxconsulting.com

End Of Days




Artist Shawn Farester, has worked with the gallery since its inception. He even helped us move into the firehouse on Arch Street. He created the bar design for our serving area and collaborated on a custom gallery design for the great space! Now, he brings his large scale abstract sculpture to you for his first solo exhibit with moxie DaDA! While studying and preparing for this exhibit has taken several years, the work itself has mostly been produced within 2009. Some earlier series and pieces may also be available for reflection on process and progress.
His work emanates strength, but challenges the viewer to question themselves. The welded and manipulated metal exhibits a majestic, while fierce, form which is testimony to the many qualities of metal that are incorporated. His work is inspired by nature and a reflection of his personality and also his interest in medieval times.


In "END of DAYS", Shawn attempts to capture your imagination and catch your eye while he communicates what cannot be heard.





We invite you for a free & open to the public reception on Saturday, May 8, 2009 from 6-9 PM. The exhibit runs through May 30.





moxie DaDA

1416 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA 15212

Click here for directions

www.moxiedada.com

www.myspace.com/moxiedada

www.moxboxconsulting.com

Politics and Other Vices


moxie DaDA welcomes Mr. Huckestein for a second solo exhibit. With his first exhibit two years ago, Mr. Huckestein painted a commentary about political, social and religious current affairs. Since then, Mr. Huckestein has been working on a series that addresses the global socio-political landscape.

from the artist, Robert D. Huckestein:

Politics is the practice of government and the managing of public affairs.

Throughout history we have had politicians who wanted to manage peoples' affairs.  Some of these politicians meant well, but others had their own agendas. Some of them used any means by which to secure power over the people. Some, such as President Bush and Karl Rove, distort the government's role to meet their own agenda.  Others, like Osama Bin Laden, use religion to obtain control over people.  Still others, for example, Kim Jong Il, use brute force and murder as a way to gain power.

Over the past 75 years we have seen individuals who have taken control of countries by force.  Using the military, and people's fear, they put themselves into a position of complete control over people's jobs, their families, and the information that the people can receive. Mao, Stalin, and Castro are all good examples of this type of control. We have also seen individuals use propaganda to create fear against other people's religious beliefs or ethnic background. We saw it in Germany during Hitler's reign with the Nazi take over. We have even seen citizen's rights taken away in this country by the creation of the patriot act, and the wire tapping of private citizens.

We should be wary of individuals who are always telling us what we want to hear.  We need to be alert to those who try to use our fears of other people to further their agendas.  Individuals who distort facts and always take the side that only advances their personal goals need to be seen for what they really are - manipulators.  This must be a sign for us as citizens to speak out against these individuals by whatever talents we have, and keep them from getting into a position of power.


The paintings I have done for this show express my contempt for people that will do whatever they can to maintain there power over others. Power for the sake of power is a vice, which we must protect ourselves against.

We invite you for a free & open to the public reception on Saturday, November 1, 2008 from 6-9 PM.



moxie DaDA
1416 Arch St
Pittsburgh PA 15212
Click here for directions
www.moxiedada.com
www.myspace.com/moxiedada
www.moxboxconsulting.com

A Beholding...





An exhibition of 2D digital multimedia by Prajna Paramita Parasher student curated by Chatham University senior Kari Garber as part of a tutorial project examining the exhibition of Non-Western imagery in Western society.





Read about this exhibit in the Pittsburgh City Paper!





Show runs through October 25




moxie DaDA

1416 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA 15212

Click here for directions

www.moxiedada.com

www.myspace.com/moxiedada

The moxie DaDA gallery welcomes Maria Napoli back for a second solo exhibition. Ms. Napoli was introduced to Pittsburgh with her first exhibit at the gallery in JUNE, 2006. Through her "SPIRITUAL LANDSCAPES" exhibition, Maria translated the innermost canvas of thought and feeling through her environmental surroundings.

"Pieces of the Puzzle" re-visits Ms. Napoli's emotional journey and allows us to see glimpses of spiritual awakenings and understandings. Ms. Napoli continues to connect the pieces of her spiritual journey to her audience. Her work is full of impact, intensity, romance and poetry.


We invite you for a free & open to the public reception on Saturday, September 6, 2008 from 6-9 PM.

The exhibit runs through Saturday, September 27.










moxie DaDA
1416 Arch St
Pittsburgh PA 15212
Click here for directions
www.moxiedada.com
www.myspace.com/moxiedada

moxie DaDA will be having its first guest curator featuring artists from around the country and abroad who are redefining the complex relationship and dialogue between artist and city. Kyle Ethan Fischer has been asked to develop a show encasing artists' reactions to the changing face of the city, responding to the shifts in population from urban to suburban or suburban to urban, and artists which work resonates independently to the city. The term "urbanic" was coined by Grant Bobitski, one of the artists on exhibition during "URBANIC: sightlines and microcosms".  Normally the curator for moxie DaDA, Bobitski used "URBANIC" to describe his own work in a studio visit with Fischer which began the development of the show. After several intense conversations, a theme emerged; artists are developing a genre which affronted the changing climate of metropolitan ....America.......
..

Bobitski's work comprises of remnants of scientific text books and painterly diagrams of buildings and rooms. Both expressionistic and analytical, his work is less about decay than construction. ..
..

Following suit with strong two-dimensional elements, the work of Adam Grossi, Amy Casey and Deanna Mance will also be featured. Grossi, a graduate from CMU who has been pursuing an MFA in Chicago, addresses a diagrammatical yet painterly approach looking at suburbia and sprawl with ironic nostalgia. His depictions of billboards and the many signifiers that bombard the public are critical; his approach is Hoffman in sensibility but reminiscent of the language that Richard Diebenkorn developed. Amy Casey, hailing from ..Cleveland.. but also with ....Chicago.... affiliations, contrasts the biomorphic with the urbane and depicts strip malls with plant growth playing with the viewers' perspective. She creates scale changes with a palette that is harmonious and vibrant. Deanna Mance, a local artist gone abroad  and showing successfully in ....London...., will also be represented. Mance, known for her intricate paintings and drawings, depicts magical almost aerial views that remind Fischer of the topography of a city. Her almost outsider renderings allow the viewer to escape the city with a distance alluding to the much broader position that the city has a place in the universe. While Grossi and Casey approach their depictions with an affront claustrophobically, Mance approaches her subjects as if she controls them. Bobitski, Grossi, Casey and Mance all work to develop site-lines which affect the viewer... ..

The work of Jaison Vespucci, Kaley Finegan and Matthew Indovina summon more introspective viewpoints. Vespucci's work is both humorous and commentary on our nations interdependence on the automobile. Vespucci, a ceramic artist and teacher who ....

works with local youth, constructs biomorphic vessels with simian heads. The vessels are then outfitted so that they may move with wheels and car model parts. It is as if a hybrid model has been created that would solve our "monkeying" around the issues that we do as a society. Kaley Finegan was elected after Fischer saw her work in the Glass Show at the ....Pittsburgh.. ..Center.... for the Arts. Her pas de Terre pieces are about microcosms. The blown glass showcasing intricate copper laced together. There is a need in Finegan's work for shelter and a process to take place. Indovina, another moxie DaDA figure head, was also selected for the show. In an ongoing salvage project he has been working on, Indovina is repurposing both urban detritus and sound. An installation in the adjoining garden to the firehouse, Indovina will reconfigure old radios encapsulated in plexi-glass with sound bytes from the city. The garden recently rediscovered will be the backdrop for an urban mix of city life sounds of city life.                                                                                                            ....

In Fischer's curatorial note, he states "that urban decay is giving way to transformation. As with much of the change of the beginning the 20^th century, the 21^st century has a new pluralism and a concentration on locality with both a depletion of natural resources and an expansions of information in global proportions. The selected artists have unique viewpoints. Whether mircrocosmic, ironic commentary or suburban surrounding, visionary, samplings of city life or distortions of the sight lines that impact our vision, the viewer will be given a glimpse of what is coming to be  - urbanic." ....

.. ..

We invite you for a free & open to the public reception on Saturday, July 12, 2008 from 7-10 PM. Fischer will also be giving a curatorial discussion, Saturday, July 19 at 4 PM.....

"Adirondack Series"
Thomas Brunger

moxie DaDA presents the artwork of local artist, Thomas Brunger. Thomas' paintings probe the dichotomy of analytical thought and natural process. Sometimes confining ideas and subject matter and other times allowing them to complete themselves, echoing field theories from quantum mechanics and the material interactions that transpire within. Finally, commenting on the imposition of human development and the impossibility of ever fully confining natural process.


A public reception will be held, Saturday, June 7, 2008 from 6-9 p.m.


The exhibit runs through June 29.



 



moxie DaDA
1416 Arch St
Pittsburgh PA 15212
Click here for directions
www.moxiedada.com
www.myspace.com/moxiedada

"Passages"

Randie Snow


moxie DaDA presents the artwork of local artist, Randie Snow. Randie has been collecting things her entire life – a lot of them seemingly innocuous, mundane little objects with no apparent meaing. But when Snow discovered assemblage, she knew instantly why all of these things had come into her life.

Each of these objects is like a new friend - a friend that needs a new home, maybe some direction, and a new purpose. "Often we meet during my everyday routine; they're living in the middle of the street, hiding in dark little corners at flea markets, or cowering at the bottom of drawers in my house. It's not always clear why we cross paths. It takes time for me to get to know them, and it takes a while for them to be comfortable with me. But when the mutual recognition happens, it's powerful. Each one of them has a story, a history, and when the time is right, they tell me what they want to say."

And so, instead of an artist, Ms. Snow becomes a medium of sorts. She helps her new little friends find their voice and tell a new story that they've discovered - together


A public reception will be held, Saturday, May 10, 2008 from 6-9 p.m.


IMAGE: "Lust"




 


IMAGE: "Pride"




IMAGE: "Patience"


 



moxie DaDA

1416 Arch St

Pittsburgh PA 15212

Click here for directions
www.moxiedada.com
www.myspace.com/moxiedada

"4 Corners West"
Robert Newell
Painter of landscapes

Robert Newell looks for scenes capturing nature in serene desert or mountain stillness whether it be mid-day or just as the first morning rays light up the tallest mesas and turn the morning clouds on fire or the last light of the day turning the light to gold and making the shadows long. He finds nature in spectacular action just before or just after a storm, when clouds take over the sky and the king of the desert, the sun, pokes through to take back its reign and casts an array of dark and light across the landscape. These moments of contrast keep Newell chasing the light, and either running to or from ominous weather, looking for the right mixture of sunlight to shadow, texture and content. His paintings capture the power and beauty of the southwest.

4 corners in a western sense and in geographical terms refer to the intersection of the state lines of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, the only place in the United States where four states meet at one spot. These four particular states are where Newell spends the better part of his travels soaking up the heat and light and traveling down well trodden highways and forgotten back roads. He is looking for the next surprise around the next bend in the road.

Robert Newell’s work has been exhibited in galleries in Pittsburgh, Pa., Santa Fe, NM., and Durango, Co.

A public reception will be held, Saturday, April 5, 2008 from 6-9 p.m.


IMAGE: "Over the Box", oil on canvas, 22 x 28




 


IMAGE: "Chollas Waiting", watercolor


 



moxie DaDA
1416 Arch St
Pittsburgh PA 15212
Click here for directions
www.moxiedada.com
www.myspace.com/moxiedada